The NHL, The Fantasy Draft, and (gasp) Women

Has the hockey world realized yet that its female fans are more than just puck bunnies?

On Thursday night, the NHL held its "fantasy draft" for Sunday's all-star game. It was a great night to be a fan of the Ottawa Senators, Vancouver Canucks, or Boston Bruins (and most certainly not the Toronto Maple Leafs), but one commentator noticed a rather unbecoming feature of the event. Via Danny Gray, of TheLeafsNation.com:

Young fans, boys and girls alike, tune into the draft to see their favourite players and which team they get drafted to. James Duthie specifically mentioned that the idea behind the draft is to evoke the memories of when the players were young, “tossing sticks into the middle, choosing Captains, and picking teams.” Kids watching at home can imagine themselves up on stage being drafted and putting on an All-Star sweater. Well the boys can. If you’re a young female hockey fan your options for daydreaming are slightly more limited. You can imagine yourself on-stage, dressed in tights and heels silently handing each player their sweater.

There were exactly three women visibly involved in the Fantasy Draft: the two aforementioned sweater shuttles, and Alyonka Larionov. Alyonka was relegated backstage to read off tweets that the Athletes were sending during the draft.

Being a man I’m obviously not the most qualified to speak on these things. And I don’t presume to speak for an entire gender, but what I saw last night bothered me. Female hockey fans have it tough. Their opinions are often marginalized due to their gender and the assumption that they are “Puck Bunnies” who only follow the sport because they have a crush on every player.

Gray's piece sparked a healthy discussion on the Twitter, which got us thinking about perhaps getting someone a little more qualified to speak on the matter. And by "more qualified", we mean "someone with more x chromosomes." Thus, without further ado, a few words from Shannon Proudfoot, a lifelong hockey fan and, more recently, a writer for Sportsnet Magazine:

The weirdest and worst thing is that I didn’t really notice the female representation at Thursday night’s All-Star Fantasy Draft until we started discussing it on Twitter. I’m immune to the fact that there will be a parade of spokesmodels wearing child-size hockey jerseys and stilettos at the NHL’s Vegas-style extravaganzas, but that doesn’t mean I like it.

Most – not all – of the few women in the NHL orbit are trotted out as dancers, Vanna White types handing over prizes or anchor-desk eye candy. The overwhelming message is that girls are for decoration. They don’t have opinions or knowledge about the game, they’re to be seen and not heard – and they’ll only be seen if they look like contestants from The Bachelor.

Fortunately, that cheap and cheesy portrayal of women doesn’t reflect the way I’ve seen female reporters treated among our colleagues. Since I started writing about sports six months ago, there’s been no missing the fact that we’re a relative rarity, but I’ve basically ignored it with the mentality that if I want to be treated like just one of the crowd, I’ll act like I am. Like athletes, journalists respect performance: If you deliver solid stories and insights, you’ll build credibility regardless of whether you walked into the press conference wearing heels or a suit. And if that’s naïve wishful thinking, so what? In a competitive field like journalism, being underestimated is a gift.

The only moment I’ve been angry about the way I was treated was at the hands of someone who was congratulating himself on his own enlightenment. A couple of months ago, I joined a Twitter conversation about a player I’d just written a feature on, but instead of responding to my point, a male writer patted me on the head and congratulated me for existing as a brave “pioneer.” It was infuriating, especially because he was so convinced he was one of the good guys.

If we care about more girls and women playing, watching, writing and taking about hockey – and we should – the best way to get there is to stop ogling them or applauding them as exotic zoo creatures. Just shrug, pour them a beer and ask what they think of the game, like you would for any guy.

Shannon Proudfoot is a writer for Sportsnet Magazine. Feel free to follow her on Twitter.